Max Verstappen topped the times for Red Bull ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in Friday’s opening free practice session ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

On a beautiful blue-skied day back at the track where Red Bull had dominated pre-season testing, the Dutchman continued where he had left off with an imperious late lap of 1:31.394 to finish top of the pile.

He was half a second clear of Mercedes’ defending champion Lewis Hamilton, who was fourth behind fellow Briton Lando Norris of McLaren but one place ahead of Charles Leclerc in a revitalised Ferrari.

Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of The Times of Malta

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